Browse: Home / / Nokia Messaging, The End Of My/Your Woes?

Nokia Messaging, The End Of My/Your Woes?

By Dotsisx on October 1, 2009

Cue in a surprised look from my own face for sitting down and actually writing this particular post with this particular title. But merit should be given where merit is due.

For those following me on Twitter or regular readers of this site, my issues with Nokia Messaging aren’t a novelty. I’ve screamed about it, I’ve given up on it, I’ve returned to it to be disappointed again, I eventually blogged about it calling it a big failure even on Nokia’s flagship messaging device, the E75. Well, someone had to point out that even though it works for 95% of the people, there are still 5% who can’t, for the life of them, get it to work. Plus, the implementation on the E75 lagged horribly in terms of settings and usability. I also had several communication emails with the Nokia Messaging team to explain all my woes.

Fast forward a couple of months, and I am practically a convert. I no longer install the Java Gmail application when I first get a new trial device, I setup Nokia Messaging instead. Seriously. I swear. It has been working like a charm on my 5800 XpressMusic (which kick-started the positive experience), my new 5530 XpressMusic, as well as several trial handsets that I got like the 6720 Classic, 5730 XpressMusic and E55. It even started working again on my Nokia E71, which was the beginning of all my woes. The only device with which I’ve had problems lately is the N86, which has the same old built-in client as the E75.

Nokia Messaging

And by Nokia Messaging “working”, I mean it functions beautifully. It always notifies me of new email even before the email shows up on my desktop browser. I no longer have access point issues, as it’s working like a charm on my operator’s 3G connection, and all the quirks have been ironed out.

For example, the newest version of Nokia Messaging on the 5730 XpressMusic and 6720 Classic, has an improved Settings layout that allow you to set your Access Point and your Main Inbox in one click (as opposed to the torture that it was on the E75). The E55, although still sports the old client design as the E75, has improved these with an additional Homescreen Inbox setting in the client itself, and the fact that you only need to specify your Access Point once instead of having to change it in all the Incoming/Outgoing and different inboxes settings. Also, if you remember, on the E75, you couldn’t switch to your other inboxes when you opened one of them through the homescreen plugin. Guess what? It’s been solved as well!

As I said, I currently rely solely on Nokia Messaging, and so far it hasn’t let me down for the past couple of months. It’s been refreshing to see it working like it should, effortlessly, and to see the benefits that it brings in terms of immediacy of delivery. Now if only they could implement the Labels and Archive features of Gmail, I’d be in heaven.

What about you? Did you have issues with Nokia Messaging before? Have they been solved now like they have with me or are they still there? I have reason to believe that many of the problems have been ironed out efficiently by the team in the past couple of months so if you had problems with the service and gave up on it, now would be a good time to try it again and tell us what happens. Maybe you would end up as impressed and as elated as me.

Related Posts

Posted in | Tagged , ,

Dotsisx

Dotsisx, aka Rita El Khoury, joined Symbian-Guru.com in September of 2007, and has been writing awesome content ever since. Rita often explores the normal user aspect of Symbian-powered devices, and offers in-depth thoughts on various topics. You can follow Dotsisx on Twitter at @Khouryrt

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to subscribe to Symbian-Guru.com's RSS feed to stay up to date on future articles. You can also follow us on Twitter: @SymbianGuru


  • mbrett
    Left Nokia Messaging and returned soooo many times. Started using it a long long time ago on an N95 8GB and then transfered to the N97 when it released. Love the principal of the app but have some many desires for what it could be:
    1) Empty Deleted folder from any screen.
    2) Move e-mails to the mass storage drive.
    3) Ideally move application to the mass storage drive.
    4) Once (2) is done extend the storage time or add a archive option.
    5) Add the ability to show multi-account infor on homescreen on N97.
    6) Add this to the sync options of Nokia phones (Sync E-mail)

    These are just some of the things I have been asking for for as long as I can remember.

    Nowadays, with the N97, the main thing I am praying for, though, is that v20 FW and a Nokia Messaging update sorts out the memory leak, so that I can stop having to uninstall and re-install NM every week or two to reclaim lost phone memory.

    This all sounds quite negative, but I still find myself coming back to this app again and again. Other than the memory leak issue on the N97, it does what it does quite well, but just needs some tweaks in my opinion.
  • I agree with mbrett. On my E71 it's not keeping old messages even-though I set it up to keep messages for 2 weeks. And that is still not enough, the gmail java app is still great for looking up old messages, they should do an option like iphone's search on server which starts search messages stored locally then can continue to search from the server.
    It's very useful to get notifications of new messages and read them briefly, but still, it cannot be considered as a full featured mobile email application. I heard they will soon end the free trial period, I won't be paying any money if it becomes a paid service before they improve it more.
  • As far as I understand, even though you can tinker the setting to save messages for more than 3 days, the option isn't yet good to go, so it'll only save messages 3 days old no matter what you set it to. This is about to change, as they have improved the memory handling issues. Imagine if you were able to let it save more than 3 days, your internal memory would be bleeding like crazy now ;)
    And as far as the free trial goes, also as far as I understand, it will still be free, only the push the service will be paid if I'm not mistaken.
  • sloanb
    I've been using Nokia Messaging from the beginning and I feel exactly the same way you do. It is one of those products that you hate but yet feel compelled to keep trying now matter how many times it let you down. As you stated those days are over for most of us and its been smooth sailing now for sometime.

    When I"m on any Nokia phone its a requirement that NM is setup and running before I consider it a working device. The next big step for Nokia should be better integration throughout the entire N/E/X series phones. With this service they have a potential to be a direct competitor to the BlackBerry email services without the suit and tie.

    My hat is tipped to Davis and the team for pulling this off. Its only going to get better from here on out.
  • An encouraging post indeed, I myself have had numerous woes and it actually got deleted from my main devices the Nokia E71 and Nokia N95 8GB, as I no longer have the latter which got replaced with a Nokia N86(delivery tomorrow Friday) and I'm really looking forward to much a better user experience, after reading this post I think I'll re-download Nokia Messaging and hopefully see everything working as it should. To Be Continued . . .
  • Merlin
    I gave up on using NM on the E71, and since Profimail is lacking homescreen notification I gave up on it too (even thoug I bought it !!!).
    I'm actually using the S60 legacy email client, and it is working beautifully for over a month now (I'm on a new contract on Bouygues too btw ;)). Now is perhaps the time to give NM another try.
    Maybe on this week end, if I have some time... I'll report if I do so.
    Thanks for the update.
  • Paya
    I've never experienced issues you described above, but one thing that bugs the hell out of me is the attachment downloading. I receive my bank account statements via email every day and the actual statements are in an attached *.html file.

    Nokia Messaging takes FOREVER to download the attachment even though its usually only 2-3 kB in size. The in-built email client downloads the attachments almost immediately as one would expect. I've tried to search Nokia forums and didn't find any similar problems experienced by anyone else. I've the latest version of NM installed and even did a hard reset in the meantime.

    Maybe someone here has a solution?
  • Paya, try this:

    1) Within Nokia Messaging go to Settings > General > Display Type and set "HTML"

    If that doesn't help, try this:

    1) Within Nokia Messaging, go to Settings > What to Sync > Inbox > "Auto download attach" and set that to "Yes".

    then,

    2) Nokia Messaging > Settings > What to Sync > Inbox > "Download only file types" and add .htm,.html

    Make sure all types are separated by a comma and preceded by a period.
  • Oh that must be crazy for you. I hope someone from NM is reading this.
  • Yes, we are.
  • lmao.
  • My only real problems (on N82, E75, and 5800) stem from the beta components of the chat and what-not on the E75. They don't feel integrated. But NM has been pretty solid for me. There are some quirks that probably shouldn't be there (and most of those on my E75) but for the most part, it has been a very dependable service.

    It especially shines when using multiple devices because setup is so damn easy in the form of an SMS config message. That in itself is a strong boon for the power mobile user.
  • I figured I'd give it another try after seeing this post. It still won't recognize my work email, and I don't see a way to set it up manually. And it insists on using my GPRS connection (and again I didn't see how to change that). I use 3 SIM cards regularly, and one doesn't even allow data. I'd like the option to check for emails manually over wlan.

    Oh well, I guess I'll keep using Slick. Money well spent.
  • The S60 5th edition client asks for the Access Point even before beginning the setup, which is a huge step forward. I understand your frustration, for now, the only way you can have it select WiFi, is to go into Offline Mode before starting the NM setup, open the browser and trigger a WiFi connection, then start setting up NM while in offline. Should work.
  • sss
    The only couple of issues I have on N82 is no support for corporate email and mails with too many replies don't open in html format. Also, the latest version (9.6.0.12) forces me discard mails that are 3 days old. It used to be customizable.... otherwise it's one of the better service/app from Nokia
  • Great article. Just a question, you are on SFR right ? What access point do you use for NM ?
  • I'm on Bouygues Telecom's Neo.2 ;)
  • Sockatume
    Probably the biggest issue is that within a year it's going to be a paid-for service. Nokia's already winding up to switch Orange users over to a subscription plan which Orange will offer as an add-on with contracts. Some devices come with a "lifetime" (actually device lifetime, 24 months) licence to the service, but most people will have to sign up to a supported carrier and pay a monthly fee if they want to use it.
  • As I said above, as far as I understand it, the paid service will be for push notifications. NM will still remain free otherwise.
  • The implementation on the E75 sucked big time... I sad that the N86 is also in the same boat. I've had many interactions with Nokia Messaging people myself and I know the headaches you must've gone through. Nokia Messaging is a great app, I must admit, it works great whenever I install it. But when it's built in (E75) it, for some reason performs horribly.

    Hope the E72 does not have the same gremlins..... if it does, then it's gonna be a deal breaker for me!
  • As I said, the new clients built-in the 5730XM, 6720 Classic, and E55 are miles better than the E75's and N86's.
  • I've always been surprised at how much trouble you've had with NM. My experience hasn't been flawless, but it does seem to be getting better as time goes on. Here is what I've experienced:

    1) When the service was first launched, I'd occasionally be unable to connect. My guess is the servers were getting updates. This hasn't happened for months.
    2) Sometimes my emails just "disappear". I can still log into my gmail account and view them, but it can get annoying. My yahoo and work pop3 account seem to be fine, maybe it's an issue with gmail sync? This still happens. Salim seems to be having the same issues.
    3) Sending emails with large 5-6mb attachments sometimes just fails with no error message. There will be no record of the email I composed in either the Outbox or Sent folders. This can be embarrassing when trying to send a work related email.
    4) When trying to open a message from my Sent folder, getting the attachment always fails (mostly w. gmail).

    Features I wish were available:
    1) (as requested by mbrett) The ability to store messages for longer than one month. Usually mine disappear before a month anyway, but it'd still be nice.
    2) To save on battery, it'd be nice to sync every 5 or 10 minutes instead of having Push enabled. Right now, I either sync constantly, or every hour.

    That said, I still like this more than the default E71 email client and I give Nokia some slack because I'm not paying for it and it is an "add on" app. But, I'd be ticked off if I owned a new E75 or E72 and had the same issues.
  • Martin Thorbjörnsson
    Gcalendar sync doesnt work on Nokia E72. Only mail. So at the current state - Nokia messaging is pracitally useless for me. I need a phone that can sync both Gmail and Gcalendar. My N82 and my E71 did it, I have come to expect more from Nokia. It may be a problem also somewhat depending on Google, but this does not mean that it isnt Nokias responsibility to make it work. My phone must sync both my Gmail and my Cgalender, period. I love Nokia, but this syncing issue is not a problem I can overlook, syncing of calendar and gmail is a must-have and if it isnt fixed Im said to say I must change my phone.
blog comments powered by Disqus
« »
Maemo-Guru.com Shop For Maemo Gear

Archives